As the SDWC was founded in part with regards to making campaigns better, I thought I’d take the opportunity to drop some general information for candidates about what’s happening this year in the word of campaign materials, based on what I’m finding in my other role as owner of Dakota Campaign Store. (Ignore my site being under construction. I’m in the middle of a complete website overhaul as I debate swapping platforms. Nearly all of my work is from word of mouth, so I’m lucky if I have time to even think about it).
The big takeaway for this election is that candidates should expect higher pricing on a couple of important items.
- Postage has bumped up (again), after minor increases during the last election cycle. Where in the last election, business rates were around .28 each, and then bumped up in July 2022 to be in the neighborhood of .30 each for postcards. Because of further increases in the year since, and an increase that went into effect on Jan 21 of this year, look for postage on pre-sorted business class postcards to be in the neighborhood of .375 per piece. And that’s mailing into the Sioux Falls zone. If you’re out in the middle of the state, it might be slightly higher.
- Yard Signs are taking the biggest jump. If you were printing full color yard signs before, you won’t notice much. But for the rest doing 1 and 2 color signs, look for jumps of 25% in cost.
Why the big increase? Traditional old-school screen printing of signs is on the way out, and in fact might already be extinct in South Dakota. The largest sign production house in the state that offered traditional screen printing on signs has been sold, and like many, the purchaser is forgoing offering that service. Even if you know what you’re doing, traditional screen printing is messy, space intensive because you have to lay them out and let the ink evaporate, and it uses harsh solvents to get the ink to adhere to the plastic. The new technology is to print the colors onto the plastic and instantly cure them with UV light with far less mess, cancer causing fumes, and space needed. The downside is financing the massive printers, which are much more expensive than a reusable screen, some ink, and a person swiping that ink on top of a piece of coroplast. So, *sniff* inexpensive screen printed signs, we’ll miss you.
What isn’t going up?
- Paper prices for postcards, brochures and palm cards seem to be stable. Not seeing a lot of price variance from last election. Maybe a little bump on shipping, but all-around I’m not seeing a large price difference. Thank goodness, because the postage rates make up for it.
- Steel is not in short supply, so yard sign stakes remain at the same pricing as 2022. After the trade wars and steel embargoes made yard signs stakes a hot commodity and doubled their price during the last election cycle, supplies are back to being stable, and prices might have even softened slightly, especially on the heavy duty goal post stakes. Prices on stakes will vary greatly per vendor.
- Highway signs from 4×4’s to 4×8’s are about the same price as last election. Why? For the most part, those had long transitioned from being screen printed to being done on flatbed printers. So, if you’re a heavy user of highway signs, such as in rural areas, you can anticipate paying the same.
How does this impact your campaign budget?
It really depends on what you do in your race. The yard sign bump will affect those who campaign in cities the most, and the mail rates will affect heavy postcard campaigners.
Buying in larger quantities is a plus, as with yard signs the prices for low runs are such that it’s getting cost prohibitive to do a small run of say, 25 signs. Think 100 signs minimum when you’re budgeting in most races, as if you have a cost of $13-18 per yard sign sign with stake for 25 signs, you’re most of the way there for a larger order and the price breaks they provide. Expect most vendors to have price breaks at 25, 50, 100, 250, and 500, etc. depending on your vendor.
As always – and it’s never changed – candidates should be spending considerable time fundraising, as what you can raise directly affects what you can do. It also forces you to interact with the public seeking support of your campaign effort. And that’s kind of what campaigning is. If they believe in you enough to support your effort financially, they’re going to vote for you. And that’s the most important job that a candidate has – getting people to vote for you.
Stay tuned, and if you’re a South Dakota reader and need campaign materials, reach out to me here, and I’m happy to give you a quote.